Story in the Public Square: Animator, RISD professor Agnieszka Woznicka builds entire worlds from scratch’

Friday

Apr 11, 2014 at 9:39 AM

NEWPORT, R.I. — It took Agnieszka Woznicka, animation artist and associate professor at Rhode Island School of Design, about two years to create her film based on a short story, carefully constructing a world in images and sounds.

By Daryl Ann West

NEWPORT, R.I. — It took Agnieszka Woznicka, animation artist and associate professor at Rhode Island School of Design, about two years to create her film based on a short story, carefully constructing a world in images and sounds.

Woznicka, who was born and studied animation in Poland and teaches at RISD, told the audience at Story in the Public Square Friday that the “allegorical fairytale” of her film “Za grosz” (For a Penny, 1997) explores the back-story of a character.

It’s a layered patchwork of stop-animation, hand-drawn illustration, puppet animation and sound. Woznicka, who says she’s developed her style of animation through “trial and error,” admits, “I’m still learning .”

The story centers on the character’s identity, or as Woznicka describes: “what is freedom under our masks?”

The panel, moderated by Sue Areson, Providence Journal deputy executive editor, kicked off a day focused on the theme of “Moving Images.” Woznicka said the process of writing, creating and crafting the sound — in 24 hours with the help of collaborators — can be mentally demanding, crafting each layer to help tell a story.